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Smart People
2008
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Smart People
Positive Reviews
55
Negative reviews
26
Average Rating
2.9
/5
intelligent
original
predictable
recurrent
All
Positive
Negative
3.5
The fun of Smart People, which was written by Mark Jude Poirier and directed by Noam Murro, is seeing Quaid bite, with darkly funny and misanthropic g ..
EW
3.1
One fateful night, Lawrence suffers a mild concussion and is looked after by Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker), who turns out to be a former s ..
Rogerebert
1.3
Which isnt to say that we dont form a relationship with these creatures.
1.5
The directors recurrent habit of flooding his soundtrack with songs whose lyrics emphatically inform the viewer precisely what the characters are feel ..
Screen Daily
3.0
The pairing is schematic and never gets a realistic dynamic going.
2.0
These are all good and talented actors and it is difficult to understand why such smart people would make such foolish choices by agreeing to appear i ..
E Film Critic
2.5
The film is thoughtful and well acted, with three appealing performers at its center: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Ellen Page.
San Francisco Chronicle
2.0
Strong performances and a few laughs, but the story feels lazy next to superior efforts recently in the same genre.
4.0
Smart People isnt only the movies title, or even a definition of its characters, its also a pretty good description of its target audience.
Cinema Blend
2.5
In what world does Smart People exist Clearly not the real one, though this dramedy wants to think its filled with ironic insights about love and fami ..
Ny Daily News
3.0
Since Lawrence is so self absorbed, he doesnt spend much time with either one of his children.
Spirituality And Practice
3.5
Isnt a work of genius, but its clever enough to make you forgive its missteps.
One Guys Opinion
2.5
And if Smart People isnt exactly brilliant, thats not the end of the world, either.
Rogers Movie Nation
2.5
The film was one big tedious contrivance, but for trying so hard deserves a Gentlemans C.
Sover
3.1
Like most simple indie character dramas, this one doesnt try to do too much.
ReelViews
4.4
Quaids great, Page and Church are even better and Parker proves theres life beyond Sex and the City.
Tv Guide
2.5
Too bad these smart people arent as smart as they think they are.
Combust Ible Celluloid
3.2
Haden Church is hilarious as low achieving Chuck who doesnt get a pass for his lesser educational status here.
3.1
...succeeds more as an actors showcase than as a fully realized, consistently compelling film.
Reel Film Reviews
3.5
It doesnt help that he consistently fails to remember having met any of his former students before.
Eric Ds Nider
3.0
This is very much a dysfunctional drama by numbers and theres very little here you havent seen elsewhere but its worth seeing for a film stealing perf ..
View London
3.8
Quaid finds what is funny and endearing and worthy in the character, and his performance holds this fine, if somewhat fragile, film together.
News Day
3.8
Call the cops. Oscar nominees Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church steal Smart People right from under the noses of its ostensible stars, Sarah Jessica ..
New York Post
4.5
A genuinely funny, intelligent, entertaining tale of a man on his way to becoming likeable, bland and borderline insipid.
Film Journal International ..
3.1
His possessive daughter, Vanessa (Ellen Page), isnt too thrilled about that connection.
Deseret News (Salt Lake Ci ..
4.0
First time director Noam Murro successfully creates a world you want to spend time in, even if its a world marred by self absorption and missed opport ..
Az Central
2.5
None of the characters or the filmmakers knowledge illuminates, deepens, or complicates this movie in a way that keeps you from thinking longingly of ..
Boston
2.0
Of the children, theres son James (Ashton Holmes, A History of Violence), whos so neglected that the movie often seems to forget about him entirely.
Mountain X
1.9
The filmmakers clearly endeavored to turn a playful lens on so called smart people.
Star Tribune
1.9
Hes a pompous and condescending windbag (hes writing a snide book that will eventually be titled You Cant Read).
Toronto Star
3.2
Its always a problem when the secondary characters are more interesting and colorful than the leads, and when they are played by such splendid thesps ..
Emanuellevy
0.5
Dennis Quaid and Ellen Page stand out here as a father and daughter who may have high IQs but rate below zero in terms of their human relations skills ..
Reel Talk Reviews
4.5
His second taskto undertake the characters gradual redemption in a way thats both believable and tolerably uncloyingis trickier.
Slate
1.5
What is it like being stupid Ellen Pages smart teen Vanessa asks three bimbos at the local night club. The answer is spelt out in this story about a s ..
2.8
The down side is when the filmmakers forget that awful people who arent gut bustingly funny in the process are just awful people you have to listen to ..
Movies
3.0
It couldve been much better. The characters dont really progress too far (any developments are too minute to be appreciated), leaving this movie as re ..
Flim Threet
4.5
Call it a could see something you can drop in on when you have nothing better to do and emerge from feeling not at all cheated by the experience.
Time
3.1
Low key and character centric, the picture doesnt particularly go anywhere that isnt predictable, but it is in the perceptive treatment of its various ..
The Movie Boy
2.5
Beneath the veneer of intellectualism (which is really only a cover for anti intellectualism), thats what this film boils down to: a sitcom.
Las Vegas Weekly
2.5
Setting the film in a drab environment like Pittsburgh doesnt help but the murky cinematography is unimaginative.
Hollywood
3.5
After its rough opening, Smart People settles down to be a funny, wryly enjoyable, effortlessly poignant parable of family life and a splendid showcas ..
Seattle Pi
4.5
A funny film dealing with a serious subject of how two exceptionally smart people cope with dealing with those who dont get it as quickly or succinctl ..
Tony Medley
4.0
Has enough funny moments and original ideas that its genuinely enjoyable based on the strength of its script and cast alone.
3.0
The charm of Smart People is watching these characters squirm and eventually come out of their shells.
7M Pictures
2.8
The ensemble cant bring enough, though, to overcome the unoriginal setup and predictable story arc.
Oregon Live
3.0
Tone and timing are managed rather well by director Noam Murro, and what little dialogue the film employs gives one a sense of the larger context that ..
Boxoffice Magazine
3.0
It has an arc of character development that ultimately makes the film something of an enjoyment but its not smart enough to be called stimulating.
Varia Gate
4.5
Smart People is just a funny, sturdy, touching movie about the way grief keeps on rippling.
The Stranger
3.1
There are a number of laughs in Smart People, but the story is too disjointed and ultimately underwhelming.
Christianity Today
1.5
A cast of such sad sacks, that its pretty astonishing when the lusty sparks begin to fly between any of them, and with an overload of brain power comi ..
News Blaze
1.8
Smart People doesnt actually have an ending, it just trails off, making vague attempts at closure and clumsily passes out happier futures for all invo ..
Brian Or Ndorf
3.0
Dennis Quaids performance is the only thing that keeps the film from tipping too far into flat out misanthropy.
Antagony & Ecstasy
1.9
The relationship between father and daughter isnt much better as we dont get enough background to make their growing estrangement sad enough or cause ..
Waffle Movies
2.5
If thats its funniest moment, theres little doubt the film falls flat on its face in the comedy department.
Hollywood Chicago
3.8
Teenage daughter Vanessa (Ellen Page) doesnt hate him, but shes no sweet faced honeycakes herself.
Chron
3.0
What a shame it never quite gives into its juicy streak of misanthropy.
Film Guardian
4.5
The characters are credible and sharply observed and all four actors go to town.
Chicago Reader
4.5
Doesnt exactly oust The Royal Tenenbaums or The Squid and the Whale, but this family go round sitcom is a lot more accessible.
East Bay Express
3.0
At other times, thanks to some intelligent writing and an able cast, it rises above its tired roots.
Tony Mack
3.2
But unlike other films of this sort, Smart People doesnt believe the two traits are mutually exclusive: there are no holy fools here, no just plain fo ..
Flip Side Archive
1.8
The film offers some witty one liners, but its largely a by the numbers affair that really just made me feel better about myself.
From The Balcony
1.5
Spurlock doesnt visit McDonalds anymore, but that doesnt mean hes repudiated all fast food.
Ny Mag
2.5
The actors make Smart People homey and comfy enough, but the film doesnt build them a proper home.
Filmcritic.com
3.8
Smart People has its finger on an idea that has become an adage: some folks are book smart but life dumb. I found the film fascinating.
Aisle Seat
3.8
Smart is indeed the word for Smart People, an extremely well acted film that manages to be simultaneously funny and troubling.
Detroit News
3.8
Smart People feels slow in spots, and its perfunctory set decoration doesnt help us connect to the characters: Janet, for example, lives in an utterly ..
Seattle Times
1.3
Unfortunately, Smart People has nothing original to say about its characters dilemmas, but is content to tread waters that previous films have navigat ..
Miami
2.8
Thomas Haden Church steals every scene hes in, in this post midlife crisis coming of age movie that carries its emotional baggage like a badge.
Film Critic 1963 Typepad
3.0
Works too hard to achieve a quirky tone that should come effortlessly.
Metromix.com
2.0
Neither smart nor an account of real people, just indie movie types and their completely uninteresting failure to communicate.
Metromix.com
1.5
There is a certain reassuring quality about Smart People for bright audiences, but most of the film keeps you in an agony of frustration.
Ny Press
2.5
Plays like a sitcom writers idea of a Noah Baumbach film, with characters who are amusing, intelligent and screwed up but not as prickly or treacherou ..
Commercial Appeal
4.5
Its so well made, so well acted and so impressively (for lack of a better word) smart that anyone who seeks it out will find something to admire and e ..
Cinematical
3.2
The characters might be too smart for their own good, but the movie could use a few more IQ points.
Movie Mom
2.0
Very much a poor mans Wonder Boys, Smart People is almost a non entity due to its utter prototypicality and extremely transparent attempts to force it ..
Patrick Nabarro
2.8
Smart People aims enlisting Quaids intelligence and self awareness without denying him the wit and the grins that keep him so likable on screen. He ha ..
Nicks Flick Picks
2.5
One of those sadly dependent independent films, every bit as formulaic as any Hollywood blockbuster.
Globe and Mail
3.5
These smart people can become grating but they eventually prove worth knowing.
Denton Record-Chronicle
2.0
And since, like 99 percent of all other Sundance type indies, Smart People is shot in the dreariest grays possible ... the movies not much to look at, ..
MSNBC
0.5
And, most crucially, hes never recovered from the death of his wife.
Ma Cleans
2.5
Smart People serves up everything youd want in a shrewd indie picture but is strangely inert.
Washington Times
3.1
You wouldnt want to live with this clan, but theyre fun to visit.
Sign On Sandiego
1.5
The movie lives up to its title. How else to explain the random switch from such a dizzy set up with such promise to a typical, by the numbers relatio ..
Knight At The Movies
3.0
The older you get the more you realize that every family even, or perhaps especially, your own is wildly dysfunctional.
Colorado Springs Gazette
1.5
Murro tends to deal in surfaces. Its hard to get a sense of the human beings beneath the cardboard facades.
Charleston City Paper
1.5
... a deadly dull narrative about four depressed stereotypes who spend an hour and a half going from unhappy to slightly less unhappy.
DVD Review
3.8
Smart People is an indie film that plays the (jangle, jangle) same chords (strum, strum) as a lot of other heartfelt comedies about too wise children ..
3.8
Dennis Quaid is the college professor of your nightmares in the dryly humorous, laid back comedy Smart People.
Ac Weekly
2.5
It wanders all over the place before ending abruptly. With the talent involved, it seems like such a waste.
0.5
In this unbearably smug dramedy, the humor is nearly nonexistent and the drama will irritate you just enough to stave off a snooze.
1.5
An amiable, often insightful presentation of brainy characters in a dysfunctional family.
Daily Gazette
3.8
This is yet another indie populated by quirky characters %u2013 its no surprise that it came out of Sundance %u2013 but for once, it doesnt overdo the ..
3.1
Also, for all that is familiar about Poiriers script, the lines hes crafted for this talented ensemble are devilishly delightful.
Sgn
1.5
Even in pointing out the falseness of talking down to people for the sake of coming across as intelligent, Smart People does just that.
Movie Views
3.8
Poiriers dialogue, filled with uncomfortable pauses and characters talking themselves in and out of philosophical quandaries, is the best part of the ..
See Where to Watch
Smart People